You are here: Home/Culture/ Maybe I’m Not Meant To Do Anything Remarkable After All

August 24, 2013

Maybe I’m Not Meant To Do Anything Remarkable After All

Yesterday, I shared with you a new hip-hop song My Generation’s Theme Song, which is a thesis from Noah Vinson on young Black America.

Today, I want to share with you a brand new song about a generation by Henning Ohlenbusch.

Based on the title, Maybe I’m Not Meant To Do Anything Remarkable After All, and Ohlenbusch’s age (40-something), I figured the song was about Generation X. But, after listening to all the lyrics a couple times, I think it’s more about Gen Y — the Me, Me, Me Generation.

Here are most of the lyrics from Maybe I’m Not Meant To Do Anything Remarkable AfterAll. I may have gotten a few lines wrong.

Another year, another year

Here I am still sitting here

It’s a wonderful place for a boy to be

Even me.

My generation was pacified

Taught self-esteem and filled with pride

E’re ye go, we go

Egos, we

I believed it for a long, long time

Though they told it to us all

But, maybe I’m not meant to do anything remarkable after all.

An enrichment program, a gifted class

I didn’t have to do too much to pass

Oh, what could I be if I applied myself

We’ll never know

‘Cause I give up almost instantly

If something doesn’t come to me easily

If I’m entitled to success

Then I must be great

And, I can wait

I believed it for a long, long time

But, I got this wake-up call

Maybe I’m not meant to do anything remarkable after all

I’m starting to recognize

I don’t need a bigger life

I used to feel nothing but guilt

When I took a look at the life I’d built

Surely, I was meant for something more

Something great.

But, lately I feel something more like peace

Have I given up or have I been released

Maybe this drive to improve ourselves

Might be a mistake we all make

I believed it for a long, long time

But, I hit a wall.

Maybe I’m not meant to do anything remarkable after all…

Ohlenbusch is represented by Rub Wrongways Records and his stuff is all over their YouTube channel. Most of the videos have fewer than 500 hits, which is kind of remarkable given the good quality of the songs and videos.

Hello, I'm Jennifer. I write about faith and family from the perspective of a Gen-Xer navigating life in the 21st Century. Generation X, a so-called "lost generation" of former latchkey kids, was born between 1961 and 1981. Thanks for stopping by!